10 Changes to Office Life - the new normal after lockdown
Spotless cleans over 1,000 offices throughout the UK. We see the office trends as they happen. We even advise our clients what other offices are doing and the successes they’ve had.
But Coronavirus will spawn a whole set of new trends, and already our customers are making their plans.
Here are 10 things which we will believe will be the new normal.
Less desks. Desks will need to be 6ft apart, which means less work spaces.
Therefore, staggered work shifts. Most likely one week in, one week off, with at least one person from each department present in the office. The weekend break itself will help kill any traces of the virus, plus proper cleaning, of course.
No arbitrary hotdesking for the foreseeable future. We had just started to see more of this recently.
Only one person in the kitchen at once, and more discipline in cleaning and tidying up after themselves.
Can I borrow a pen? No you may not. Keep hold of your own!
No shaking hands as standard.
Meetings always at 6 ft distances, so for most rooms, 3 people max. Therefore Zoom, Teams, etc wherever possible. There will be almost no visitors to the office, unless critical.
Temperature testing daily in some offices, or compulsory tracking of symptoms on track and trace Apps
Increased car use. For a 90 mile business trip would you take a car or train? Most people will want their car, for hygiene safety purposes.
And lastly cleaning … there will need to be increased training for cleaners, fanatical attention to touch points and more stringent auditing. Even the best cleaning companies will raise their game. See here to read what we’re doing.
Let’s recognise the positives in all of this.
Carbon footprint is down, and with it all the associated costs of fuel and energy.
We’ve re-written how to do meetings online which is so often an improvement on face to face meetings.
And lastly, while some people have struggled to work well during lockdown, even been slightly ‘found out’, many others have flourished working from home, and shown higher levels of productivity.